In Agra now. Saw the awesome Taj Mahal. Beautiful and breathtaking… just amazed at the marble inlay. The photographer was great. Took some really nice photos and videos for me.
But then he took me to a marble shop that had real nice marble inlay pieces. Did not really want to buy due to transport issues, but they talked me into it. Gotta watch myself… they are smooth talkers. Then he took me to this jewelry place… oh no! Wasn’t planning to, but. But spent a ton on an earing necklace set of india star ruby. It is beautiful, but I paid way too much!!
Lesson learned!!
Roxie.. don’t be a sap! Gotta watch out. But the things I bought I like, but too high priced and no room to carry back. i do want to buy things in Rajasthan and Kerala too.
The next day, I had a guide, whom I really liked. Took me to Red Fort, the baby Taj and Akbar tomb. Soo many wonderful mausoleums here.. beautiful craftmenship and architecture. Had some real awesome food too. Authentic Indian food. I just love the food!
Jaipur is an awesome place. The history is crazy. I loved the Amer Fort and the Monkey Temple. The Amer fort had this beautiful glass room or palace made with mirrors and silver tiles.
The Monkey Temple was fun. The monkeys they feed and they stay and eat and swim in the holy temple water. This water flows from where they don’t know. They say scientists came here to try and find the source, and they couldn’t. That is why they call it holy water. The Hindus come here to dip in the water to cleanse their souls. Some kids come to just swim. Some come to perform play. When they have issues or problems, there is a ceremony to rid them of it.
The culture here is interesting to say the least. This part of India is primarily Hindu. They don’t eat meat and pray 5 times daily. They feed the animals, birds, cows, dogs, etc, so that they can get good karma. You can buy food for the birds roadside from the many vendors and feed the birds. So there is no waste they give all leftovers to the animals. As you can imagine, the streets are full of trash. The traffic is endless. Honking non stop. My ears were hurting by the end of the day. Will see how Varanasi is…
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